Enhanced Survival with Lymphadenectomy in Early-Stage Metachronous Second Primary Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Lymphadenectomy is a cornerstone in the surgical management of resectable primary lung cancer. However, its prognostic significance in early-stage metachronous second primary lung cancer (MSPLC) remains poorly understood. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of lymphadenectomy in these patients using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the SEER Database for patients surgically treated for stage I MSPLC between 2004 and 2015. Propensity score-matching was employed to create comparable cohorts, and the Cox proportional hazards model was utilized to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival after lymphadenectomy compared to non-lymphadenectomy. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and the log-rank test. RESULTS: Among 920 identified patients with MSPLC, 574 (62.4%) underwent lymphadenectomy. Propensity score-matching yielded 255 patients in both the lymphadenectomy and non-lymphadenectomy groups. Over a median follow-up of 38 months, the 5-year overall survival probability after a diagnosis of MSPLC was 58.7% in the lymphadenectomy group and 43.9% in the non-lymphadenectomy group (HR: 0.76; 95% confidence interval 0.64-0.90; p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: In this population-based study, lymphadenectomy is associated with prolonged overall survival in patients with stage I MSPLC. These findings suggest the potential benefit of incorporating lymphadenectomy into the surgical management of MSPLC, providing valuable guidance for thoracic surgeons in clinical decision-making.

Separation of benzene and toluene associated with vapochromic behaviors by hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystals.

The combination of macrocyclic chemistry with co-crystal engineering has promoted the development of materials with vapochromic behaviors in supramolecular science. Herein, we develop a macrocycle co-crystal based on hybrid[4]arene and 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene that is able to construct vapochromic materials. After the capture of benzene and toluene vapors, activated hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystal forms new structures, accompanied by color changes from brown to yellow. However, when hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystal captures cyclohexane and pyridine, neither structures nor colors change. Interestingly, hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystal can separate benzene from a benzene/cyclohexane equal-volume mixture and allow toluene to be removed from a toluene/ pyridine equal-volume mixture with purities reaching 100%. In addition, the process of adsorptive separation can be visually monitored. The selectivity of benzene from a benzene/cyclohexane equal-volume mixture and toluene from a toluene/ pyridine equal-volume mixture is attributed to the different changes in the charge-transfer interaction between hybrid[4]arene and 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene when hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystal captures different vapors. Moreover, hybrid[4]arene-based co-crystal can be reused without losing selectivity and performance. This work constructs a vapochromic material for hydrocarbon separation.

High-resolution electric power load data of an industrial park with multiple types of buildings in China.

Considering the growing demand for electricity in industrial parks, understanding their electric power load patterns is critical for improving energy efficiency and ensuring the rational utilization of energy resources. However, the detailed electric power load data of various buildings in industrial parks are rarely available and accessible, which hinders the related studies. In this context, we present the electric power load data of 6 years (from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021) for various types of buildings in an industrial park in Suzhou, China. The data are obtained from smart meters and have various time resolutions (i.e., 5 minutes, 30 minutes, and 1 hour). This work describes the data collection, processing process, and different imputation methods. The high-resolution electric power load data can be used for various research tasks, including load prediction, load pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and demand response strategy development.

Efficacy, safety, and Pharmacoeconomics of Three Common Strategies for Pediatric Alopecia Areata Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective: To evaluate and explore the efficacy, safety, and pharmacoeconomics of three common strategies for pediatric alopecia areata. Methods: Chinese pediatric alopecia areata patients meeting the criteria were included and divided into three groups based on the received treatments. The efficacy, adverse events and pharmacoeconomics of these treatments were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Twenty-four pediatric AA patients were recruited in this study. 100% (12/12) of patients from the traditional group achieved SALT100. In the tofacitinib group, 40.0% (2/5) of patients achieved SALT50. 20.0% (1/5) of patients achieved SALT75 and 40.0% (2/5) of patients achieved SALT100. In the MN group, 42.86% (3/7) of patients were non-responders. 14.28 (1/7) of patients achieved SALT75 and 42.86% (3/7) of patients achieved SALT100. The adverse effects (AEs) were mild in all three groups, and none of the patients discontinued the treatments due to the AEs. Comparing the other two groups, the MN treatment would be more time-intensive and more expensive. Conclusion: For newly diagnosed or naive pediatric patients, the traditional treatment was the first-line approach. For long-duration, severe and refractory patients, tofacitinib and microneedling can be alternative options.

Potential of nonporous adaptive crystals for hydrocarbon separation.

Hydrocarbon separation is an important process in the field of petrochemical industry, which provides a variety of raw materials for industrial production and a strong support for the development of national economy. However, traditional separation processes involve huge energy consumption. Adsorptive separation based on nonporous adaptive crystal (NAC) materials is considered as an attractive green alternative to traditional energy-intensive separation technologies due to its advantages of low energy consumption, high chemical and thermal stability, excellent selective adsorption and separation performance, and outstanding recyclability. Considering the exceptional potential of NAC materials for hydrocarbon separation, this review comprehensively summarizes recent advances in various supramolecular host-based NACs. Moreover, the current challenges and future directions are illustrated in detail. It is expected that this review will provide useful and timely references for researchers in this area. Based on a large number of state-of-the-art studies, the review will definitely advance the development of NAC materials for hydrocarbon separation and stimulate more interesting studies in related fields.

Recent Progress of Supramolecular Chemotherapy Based on Host-Guest Interactions.

Chemotherapy is widely recognized as an effective approach for treating cancer due to its ability to eliminate cancer cells using chemotherapeutic drugs. However, traditional chemotherapy suffers from various drawbacks, including limited solubility and stability of drugs, severe side effects, low bioavailability, drug resistance, and challenges in tracking treatment efficacy. These limitations greatly hinder its widespread clinical application. In contrast, supramolecular chemotherapy, which relies on host-guest interactions, presents a promising alternative by offering highly efficient and minimally toxic anticancer drug delivery. In this review, an overview of recent advancements in supramolecular chemotherapy based on host-guest interactions is provided. The significant role it plays in guiding cancer therapy is emphasized. Drawing on a wealth of cutting-edge research, herein, a timely and valuable resource for individuals interested in the field of supramolecular chemotherapy or cancer therapy, is presented. Furthermore, this review contributes to the progression of the field of supramolecular chemotherapy toward clinical application.

Biphenarenes, Versatile Synthetic Macrocycles for Supramolecular Chemistry.

The development of supramolecular chemistry has always been accompanied by the innovation of macrocyclic hosts. The synthesis of novel macrocycles with unique structures and functions will bring new development opportunities for supramolecular chemistry. As a new generation of macrocyclic hosts, biphenarenes have customizable cavity sizes and diverse backbones, overcoming the limitation that the cavities of traditionally popular macrocyclic hosts are generally smaller than 10 Å. These features undoubtedly endow biphenarenes with distinguished host-guest properties, which have attracted more and more attention. In this review, the structural characteristics and molecular recognition properties of biphenarenes are summarized. In addition, the applications of biphenarenes in adsorption and separation, drug delivery, fluorescence sensing and other fields are introduced. Hopefully, this review will provide a reference for the study of macrocyclic arenes, especially biphenarenes.

Identification of a Novel Mutation of Extracellular Matrix Protein 1 Gene in a Chinese Family with Lipoid Proteinosis.

Lipoid proteinosis (LP) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1), a glycoprotein expressed in skin. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was used to investigate two Chinese siblings with suggestive clinical features of LP. They shared one known (c.960G>A) and one novel (c.1081G>T) pathogenic variant in ECM1 gene, inherited from their unaffected parents. The novel mutation (c.1081G>T) led to a termination codon at position 361 and caused nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and lost the function. Our finding expands the genetic etiology spectrum of LP.

A molecular dynamics study of phospholipid membrane electroporation induced by bipolar pulses with different intervals.

The mechanism of changes in cell electroporation (EP) during the intervals of bipolar pulses is still unclear, and few studies have investigated the effect of the intervals at the molecular level. In this study, EP induced by bipolar pulses (BP) with different intervals was investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Firstly, EP was formed during the positive pulses of 2 ns and 0.5 V nm-1, then the effects of various intervals of 0, 1, 5, and 10 ns on EP evolution were investigated, and the dynamic changes of different degrees of EP induced by the following negative pulses of 2 ns and 0.5 V nm-1 were analyzed. The elimination effect of intervals was determined and it was related to the degrees of EP and the time of intervals. At the last moment of the intervals the phospholipid membrane was classified and quantitatively defined in three states according to the degrees of EP, namely, Resealing, Destabilizing and Retaining states. These states appeared due to the combined effect of both the positive pulse and the interval, and the states represent the degrees of EP which had different responses after applying the negative pulse. These results can improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanism of BP-induced EP.

Pillararene-Based Supramolecular Polymers for Cancer Therapy.

Supramolecular polymers have attracted considerable interest due to their intriguing features and functions. The dynamic reversibility of noncovalent interactions endows supramolecular polymers with tunable physicochemical properties, self-healing, and externally stimulated responses. Among them, pillararene-based supramolecular polymers show great potential for biomedical applications due to their fascinating host-guest interactions and easy modification. Herein, we summarize the state of the art of pillararene-based supramolecular polymers for cancer therapy and illustrate its developmental trend and future perspective.

Supramolecular host-guest nanosystems for overcoming cancer drug resistance.

Cancer drug resistance has become one of the main challenges for the failure of chemotherapy, greatly limiting the selection and use of anticancer drugs and dashing the hopes of cancer patients. The emergence of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems has brought the field of supramolecular chemistry into the nanoworld, providing a potential solution to this challenge. Compared with conventional chemotherapeutic platforms, supramolecular host-guest nanosystems can reverse cancer drug resistance by increasing drug uptake, reducing drug efflux, activating drugs, and inhibiting DNA repair. Herein, we summarize the research progress of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems for overcoming cancer drug resistance and discuss the future research direction in this field. It is hoped that this review will provide more positive references for overcoming cancer drug resistance and promoting the development of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems.

Ruminant-specific genes identified using high-quality genome data and their roles in rumen evolution.

Ruminants comprise a highly successful group of mammals with striking morphological innovations, including the presence of a rumen. Many studies have shown that species-specific or lineage-specific genes (referred to as new genes) play important roles in phenotypic evolution. In this study, we identified 1064 ruminant-specific genes based on the newly assembled high-quality genomes of representative members of two ruminant families and other publically available high-quality genomes. Ruminant-specific genes shared similar evolutionary and expression patterns with new genes found in other mammals, such as primates and rodents. Most new genes were derived from gene duplication and tended to be expressed in the testes or immune-related tissues, but were depleted in the adult brain. We also found that most genes expressed in the rumen were genes predating sheep-sperm whale split (referred to as old genes), but some new genes were also involved in the evolution of the rumen, and contributed more during rumen development than in the adult rumen. Notably, expression levels of members of the ruminant-specific PRD-SPRRII gene family, which are subject to positive selection, varied throughout rumen development and may thus play important roles in the development of the keratin-rich surface of the rumen. Overall, this study generated two novel ruminant genomes and also provided novel insights into the evolution of new mammalian organs.

Case Report: A neurolinguistic and neuroimaging study on a Chinese follow-up case with logopenic-variant of primary progressive aphasia.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA), typically resulting from a neurodegenerative disease, is characterized by a progressive loss of specific language functions while other cognitive domains are relatively unaffected. The logopenic variant, characterized by impairments of word retrieval and sentence repetition along with preserved semantic, syntactic, and motor speech abilities, is the most recently described and remains less understood than other variants due to a comparatively small number of case studies and a lack of investigations with a thorough specification. In this article, we report a 2-year follow-up case study of a 74-year-old Chinese female patient with a logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia, including its neurolinguistic study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and 11C-Pittsburgh compound B-Positron emission tomography imaging analyses, as well as gene sequencing. This case confirms that, in addition to word-finding and sentence repetition difficulties, the logopenic variant may also present with mild auditory comprehension and naming deficits attributed to impaired access to lexical representations. The observation of clinical treatment suggests the efficacy of memantine hydrochloride tablet and rivastigmine transdermal patch in slowing down the cognitive deterioration of this patient. The description and exploration of this case may shed new insights into a better understanding of the Chinese logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

The impact of social comparison and (un)fairness on upstream indirect reciprocity: Evidence from ERP.

Event-related potential (ERP) technology and the dictator game paradigm are used to explore the formation mechanism of upstream indirect reciprocity behaviors. We design a within subject experiment of 3 (social comparison: upward versus parallel versus downward) × 2 (treatment: fair versus unfair) involving 49 subjects. In the first round of allocations, subjects are forced to accept a monetary amount allocated to them by another player. In the second round, subjects assume the role of allocator and divide a monetary amount between themselves and a third party. Our results show the following: 1) Having received fair treatment from someone else, individuals engaged in downward comparison are more inclined to reciprocate the fairness they had received to a third party compared to individuals in parallel and upward comparison conditions. If individuals receive unfair treatment, they tend to repeat this behavior to a third party regardless of which social comparison condition they are in; 2) Under the condition of upward comparison, individuals receiving unfair treatment exhibit greater FRN amplitude and less P300 amplitude, but in parallel and downward comparison conditions, there is no significance in FRN and P300 amplitude between individuals receiving fair and unfair treatment.

The Inhibition of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells on the Invasion of Keloid Fibroblasts.

Background: Keloids represent the dysregulation of cutaneous wound healing caused by aberrant fibroblast activities. Adipose-derived stem cells have been recognized as a promising treatment for keloids. However, the molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Objectives: to explicitly demonstrate the relationship between adipose-derived stem cells alleviating keloids and alterations of Col-1, Col-3, CTGF, and P-4-HB. Methods: Skin biopsies were obtained from 10 keloid patients and 9 healthy volunteers. Fibroblasts isolated from all samples were divided into two groups, one co-cultured with adipose-derived stem cells and the other grown independently. We compared the wound-healing rates, fibroblast survival rates, apoptosis rates, mRNA expressions, and protein levels of Col-1, Col-3, CTGF, and P-4-HB between separated groups. Results: We found no significant differences between normal fibroblasts and keloid fibroblasts in terms of wound-healing rate, survival rate, or apoptosis rate at the baseline. With adipose-derived stem cells, wound-healing rate and survival rate of normal fibroblasts were promoted, whereas in keloid fibroblasts, they were reduced. The apoptosis rate of normal fibroblasts and keloid fibroblasts were restrained, with the restraint in keloid fibroblasts being more evident. The protein levels of Col-3, CTGF, and P-4-HB were lower in keloid fibroblasts co-cultured with adipose-derived stem cells than in normal fibroblasts under similar conditions. Conclusions: Adipose-derived stem cells strongly suppressed keloid fibroblasts' proliferative and invasive behavior. However, adipose-derived stem cells negatively regulated keloid fibroblast apoptosis. Adipose-derived stem cells can be a potential keloid therapy worth further investigation.

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of the combined effects of different phospholipids and cholesterol content on electroporation.

The electroporation mechanism could be related to the composition of the plasma membrane, and the combined effect of different phospholipid molecules and cholesterol content on electroporation has rarely been studied nor conclusions drawn. In this paper, we applied all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the effects of phospholipids and cholesterol content on bilayer membrane electroporation. The palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) model, palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (POPE) model, and a 1 : 1 mixed model of POPC and POPE called PEPC, were the three basic models used. An electric field of 0.45 V nm-1 was applied to nine models, which were the three basic models, each with three different cholesterol content values of 0%, 24%, and 40%. The interfacial water molecules moved under the electric field and, once the first water bridge formed, the rest of the water molecules would dramatically flood into the membrane. The simulation showed that a rapid rise in the Z-component of the average dipole moment of the interfacial water molecules (Z-DM) indicated the occurrence of electroporation, and the same increment of Z-DM represented a similar change in the size of the water bridge. With the same cholesterol content, the formation of the first water bridge was the most rapid in the POPC model, regarding the average electroporation time (t ep), and the average t ep of the PEPC model was close to that of the POPE model. We speculate that the differences in membrane thickness and initial number of hydrogen bonds of the interfacial water molecules affect the average t ep for different membrane compositions. Our results reveal the influence of membrane composition on the electroporation mechanism at the molecular level.